


and they were roommates

by Author404 (orphan_account)



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Babies, Domestic Fluff, Higgs Monaghan Being Higgs Monaghan, Humor, M/M, Makeup, Roommates, Trans Higgs Monaghan, sam doesnt work for bridges anymore hes just chilling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Author404
Summary: Sam rescues Higgs from the Beach.
Relationships: Sam Porter Bridges/Higgs Monaghan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	and they were roommates

Higgs spent what felt like years on the Beach. Years and years of being alone. He had all the time in the world to think about the things he’d done. It was a punishment, of course. A suitable punishment for an unsuitable man. Fragile hadn’t been smug when talking to him, no. She hadn’t boasted about her victory. But she had given him a choice. Higgs had thought about killing himself right there and then.  _ Fuck that _ , he had thought,  _ I don’t give up that easily _ . Instead, he had taken the gun from her hands and fired a shot in the air. Fragile had said nothing, then she was gone. Sam was gone. 

Sam. He let out a joyless chuckle from his spot on the sand. He could hear and feel the tide slowly coming in, his boots beginning to feel a bit damp. Sam was a fool, just another toy in Amelie’s game. Higgs only saw him as an obstacle. That was it. But he couldn’t help but feel curious as to what he would feel towards Sam if he wasn’t. Oh well, he wouldn’t ever find out anyway. 

He never expected to see Sam again. But, one day, there he was, standing above Higgs like he had nothing better to do. Higgs was surprised and terrified. Was this a chance to go back home? Perhaps it was an execution. Higgs wouldn’t have minded either. After that, a lot happened in a short period of time. Sam had somehow teleported them back to Bridges. Higgs had said nothing. He was more than ecstatic but was too overwhelmed to say anything about it. There was a lot of shouting and questions. Fragile wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Sam had half-dragged him to (presumably) the medical ward of the building. A lot of different people had begun questioning Sam and him while doctors and nurses were fussing over Higgs. He had tried to push them off when they began tugging at his cloak. It was around the time when he had tried to bite one of the doctors on the hand when someone had stabbed his neck with a needle and… the rest was history. 

He woke up to blinding lights.  _ How long have I been asleep? _ It didn’t matter, what mattered now was that he was awake and definitely not on the Beach. A painful realization struck him. His mask was gone. Both of them. Probably still at the Beach, he didn’t know, he didn’t care. People could see his face. In an embarrassing moment of pure panic, Higgs made a high-pitched gurgling noise and shot up. To his surprise, Sam was sleeping on a chair next to his bed. He snorted in his sleep but didn’t wake up. Higgs ignored him for a moment and looked around his bed. There were a couple monitors and a few wires attached to his arms and legs. Higgs didn’t hesitate to rip one of them out violently. A storm of beeping erupted from the monitors and it wasn’t long until a sea of people in red coats burst in. Higgs started panicking again. 

That was around the time when Sam woke up. 

The Man Who Delivers heard unfamiliar, loud, urgent voices. Higgs was talking, well more like shouting questions. Sam cracked an eye open to see staff members trying to calm Higgs down. The terrorist had his hands attached to his face. It looked like they weren’t moving anytime soon. 

“...eed to calm down-”

“...verythings alright, if you would just remove your-”

“...nothing’s wrong with your face, sir, please cal-”

Deadman was at the door. He waved Sam over to him. “The Beach didn’t seem to have any effect on him, nor the jump back to our world. Curious… What you and Higgs did today is a historical event!” He shook his head, turning back to the now calmed Higgs. “I don’t know why you went back for him, and honestly,” Deadman looked at him with a joy only a scientist could have in his eyes. “I don’t care!” He pulled Sam into a bear-hug. Sam hugged back, although eager to get it over with. Wasn’t the first and it wouldn’t be the last. 

Sam nudged his head towards the bed. “Don’t think Higgs will be too happy if you study him like a lab rat.” Deadman nodded. 

“He sure needs some time to come to terms with the idea.” Without giving Sam a chance to respond, Deadman winked and strolled out of the room. Sam looked over at Higgs, who still had his hands over his face even though everyone in the room had probably seen it. Probably to hide his dried running eyeliner. Or maybe the equation tattoos. A nurse was trying to reattach the thing Higgs pulled out of his arm. 

“Stop- What’re you doing? What’s that?” He dodged the nurse’s hands and chirped on. “What’s gonna happen to me? It was Amelie, it was all Amelie. I swear I didn’t mean to be that bad, I swear…” No one seemed to know what the hell he was talking about. Where was Sam? “Saaaammm! Sam!” He whined for the man, sticking his head up and searching the room. Sam was leaning against the wall, out of the way and not saying anything. He met Higgs’ eyes for a second. “Sam!!” He tried to wave at him but the wire’s stuck to his veins complained. He barely had time to react before something was being injected into his neck (again) and Higgs was gone. 

-

Sam declined staying in his room to keep a watchful eye on Higgs. The ex-terrorist had woken up a few times, mumbling nonsense before passing out again. Sam was watching him snore slightly now. He didn’t look so menacing now. Even when Sam had rescued him from the Beach, Higgs had lost a certain… energy.  _ Maybe he lost his powers. _ Good. The kind of stuff Amelie had given him to play with was too much. No one should have that much power. Higgs shouldn’t have asked for it anyway. 

He wouldn’t let Higgs cause anymore destruction. He had spent too many sleepless nights thinking about him. No, not in  _ that _ way. Get your head out of the gutter. Sam had found and read his journal entries. It gave him another perspective to “the Man in the Golden Mask”, a more vulnerable side. He couldn’t have helped but wonder how Higgs was doing on the Beach. He deserved eternal solitude, sure, but Sam couldn’t take the nights when he stared at the ceiling, just thinking about how that would feel. It was worse than the DOOMS induced nightmares. 

It hadn’t taken long to find him. Sam had let Deadman babysit Lou and asked Fragile to help him jump to someone’s Beach. Maybe she knew he meant Higgs, because she had said nothing. Sam was surprised he’d been able to do it at all. Maybe he and Higgs were more connected than he thought. 

Speaking of Lou… She was probably napping. He wanted to see her but needed to think of something to do with Higgs. Out of all the ideas, the only winning one was to let Higgs live with him. It was the only way Sam could keep an eye on him at all times. Maybe he was being obsessive. But Sam didn’t trust anyone else. Higgs would just cause more trouble. Although looking over at the man’s sleeping form he didn’t seem so threatening. 

Sam decided he would officially figure out what to do in the morning. He was tired and uncomfortable and would much rather get out of Bridges as soon as possible. He didn’t work for them anymore but was allowed to see his friends. 

\- 

Higgs woke up with a snort. He was grateful to not feel wet sand beneath his fingers and between his toes. He finally noticed his lack of cloak and felt naked. Plus, he was only wearing a paper gown. His clothes were probably covered in sand and salt. Oh no, what if Sam burned them? He frantically looked around, in search of familiar golden stripes. When nothing caught his eye, Higgs hissed in Sam’s direction. “Sam!” No response. He was sleeping. Higgs tried to poke him awake only to find that his wrists were handcuffed to the hospital bed. It wasn’t with those weird Bridges cufflinks either,  _ real _ handcuffs. What did they expect him to do, waltz out of Bridges with his ass hanging out? 

“Sam!” A little more than a whisper. No fucking response. He sighed and tried again. “Sam! Sammyboy, Sam the Man, wake up!” To Higgs’ delight, Sam blinked his grey eyes open. “Sam, where’s my cloak?” 

“What?” 

“Cloak. Where’s my cloak?” If it was burned, Higgs was going to be devastated _ and _ pissed off. A deadly combination. “If you burned it, Sam Bridges, I swear to god.” Sam seemed to understand now, sitting up and yawning. 

“Relax, it’s in the wash.” An embarrassing amount of relief washed over him. “You’ll have it back by today.” Thank god. He shook his cuffed hands around, making the metal of the handcuffs clink against the metal of the bed. Sam looked at it and smirked. “You’re not going anywhere anytime soon.” Higgs all but  _ pouted _ and slumped back against the bed. It was almost enough to make Sam uncuff him. 

“I hate hospitals.” A pause. “What’s gonna happen to me? What was the point of saving me if I’m in prison, Sam?” Higgs suddenly sniffed the air and grinned. “You wanna be my roomie, Sam? I would’ve never thought that!” He cackled. 

“Stop doing that!” Sam snapped at him. “I dunno what to do with you!” Higgs shrugged. 

“I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea, living with you. Don’t think your friend Fragile will be too happy about that though…” He sniffed again. “Ah, taking ‘Lou’ and I and living in the mountains, smart. You can’t exactly sneak a baby and a grown man into the mountains, Sammy.” 

Sam said, “The only one who knows you’re here is Deadman.” Fragile probably knew. “Was gonna ask him for help.” Higgs rolled his eyes and pestered him about his clothes for a couple minutes before giving up. They sat in silence. 

“Why did you save me?” Sam huffed. 

“I’ll talk to you later, I’m gonna go talk to Deadman.” Higgs had never met this ‘Deadman’ Sam kept talking about but he had a feeling he would soon. Before he knew it, Sam was gone. And Higgs was still handcuffed to the bed. He kinda wanted to see what it was like, living with Sam. Not like he had any other options. Plus, underneath all the grumbling, Sam was pretty handsome.  _ Woah! Where’d that come from?  _ He wasn’t gonna think about that, no sir. He  _ was _ gonna wait until Sam came back. Or until someone returned his cloak. 


End file.
